Community Attachment, Communication Mediation, and Nonprofit Participation: An Integrated Community Communication Approach to Understanding Nonprofit Involvement

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Poster Session: Political Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Nonprofit participation in the form of giving and volunteering has long been viewed as the key building blocks of participatory democracy. Yet prior research has rarely treated nonprofit participation as a distinctive form of civic participation. The current study extends the Communication Mediation Model (CMM) to examine nonprofit-specific participation behaviors within local communication possesses. It uses structural equation modeling to investigate the paths of influence among community attachment variables, nonprofit-specific media use, nonprofit-specific discussion, and individuals’ volunteering and giving behaviors. Results highlight the importance of nonprofit-specific discussion in (1) directly promoting both giving and volunteering behaviors, (2) mediating the influence of nonprofit-specific traditional media use, and (3) translating community attachment into greater nonprofit involvement. Findings also identify a different set of community and communication mechanisms significantly associated with nonprofit giving versus volunteering. Practical implications are discussed in the context of leveraging communication processes to promote local nonprofit participation.

Authors

• Wenlin Liu, U of Houston

• Seungahn Nah, U of Oregon